San Lorenzo River vegetation management
The following is an email announcement by Friends of the River, "The Voice of California's Rivers" that addresses our concerns with the City's drastic clearing of vegetation along the lower San Lorenzo River and its impact on wildlife habitat. Scroll down for images of the City's vegetation removal.
US ARMY CORPS BACKS DOWN: RIVERSIDE TREES CAN REMAIN BY RIVERS ACROSS CALIFORNIA AND THE NATION!
Friends of the River (FOR) members have contributed to an epic river victory through both the courts and the Congress over the United States Army Corps of Engineers requirement that local governments clear-cut of most of the nation’s riverside trees.
FOR led the way accompanied by two co-plaintiffs in filing suit in 2011 in federal court to subject the Army Corps’ new post-Hurricane Katrina policy prohibiting trees and all other vegetation except for grass on and near the nation’s levees, to environmental review under federal laws. Along most of the Central Valley rivers, trees and shrubs on and near levees are the only riparian vegetation remaining and are essential for preservation of endangered species and also for providing scenic beauty and recreational enjoyment of our Valley rivers.
FOR has put enormous resources into the litigation in court and fight in congress - entirely funded by you - our members. These resources included defeating the Army Corps’ motion to dismiss as set forth in the nationally reported litigation victory, Friends of the River v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 870 F.Supp.2d 966 (E.D. Cal. 2012). Following that victory, the Army Corps was required to prepare and lodge an Administrative Record for judicial review. The Record consisted of more than 800,000 (electronic) pages requiring extensive review by the FOR legal team including law clerks from local law schools and paralegal interns from American River Community College for preparation of a draft motion for summary judgment by the spring of 2014.
In the meantime, FOR Senior Policy Advocate Ron Stork had been working with Congress for years seeking legislation requiring the Army Corps to carry out a comprehensive review of its vegetation guidelines including environmental impacts, endangered species habitat impacts, and levee safety benefits provided by woody vegetation. That effort succeeded in June 2014 when Congress enacted into law and the President signed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA), including § 3013, P.L. 113-121, 128 Stat. 1193, 1284-86. That section requires the Army Corps to carry out the long-sought vegetation policy review and prohibits the Army Corps from in the requiring the removal of existing vegetation on or near levees unless the specific vegetation has been demonstrated to present an unacceptable safety risk.
There was an ambiguity in the legislation in that the legislation refers to the old, 2009 Engineering Technical Letter prohibiting vegetation challenged in the litigation even though the Army Corps had issued a new Engineer Technical Letter in April 2014. In the Stipulation for Order concluding the lawsuit, entered last week, the Army Corps agreed that it would carry out the review required by Congress with respect to the new as well as the old Engineering Technical Letter.
FOR led the way accompanied by two co-plaintiffs in filing suit in 2011 in federal court to subject the Army Corps’ new post-Hurricane Katrina policy prohibiting trees and all other vegetation except for grass on and near the nation’s levees, to environmental review under federal laws. Along most of the Central Valley rivers, trees and shrubs on and near levees are the only riparian vegetation remaining and are essential for preservation of endangered species and also for providing scenic beauty and recreational enjoyment of our Valley rivers.
FOR has put enormous resources into the litigation in court and fight in congress - entirely funded by you - our members. These resources included defeating the Army Corps’ motion to dismiss as set forth in the nationally reported litigation victory, Friends of the River v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 870 F.Supp.2d 966 (E.D. Cal. 2012). Following that victory, the Army Corps was required to prepare and lodge an Administrative Record for judicial review. The Record consisted of more than 800,000 (electronic) pages requiring extensive review by the FOR legal team including law clerks from local law schools and paralegal interns from American River Community College for preparation of a draft motion for summary judgment by the spring of 2014.
In the meantime, FOR Senior Policy Advocate Ron Stork had been working with Congress for years seeking legislation requiring the Army Corps to carry out a comprehensive review of its vegetation guidelines including environmental impacts, endangered species habitat impacts, and levee safety benefits provided by woody vegetation. That effort succeeded in June 2014 when Congress enacted into law and the President signed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA), including § 3013, P.L. 113-121, 128 Stat. 1193, 1284-86. That section requires the Army Corps to carry out the long-sought vegetation policy review and prohibits the Army Corps from in the requiring the removal of existing vegetation on or near levees unless the specific vegetation has been demonstrated to present an unacceptable safety risk.
There was an ambiguity in the legislation in that the legislation refers to the old, 2009 Engineering Technical Letter prohibiting vegetation challenged in the litigation even though the Army Corps had issued a new Engineer Technical Letter in April 2014. In the Stipulation for Order concluding the lawsuit, entered last week, the Army Corps agreed that it would carry out the review required by Congress with respect to the new as well as the old Engineering Technical Letter.
Full text of HR 3080
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